1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to shredding discarded rubber vehicle tires.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Millions of pneumatic vehicle tire casings are discarded daily in the United States. Disposal and recycling efforts have problems. Buried tires are an unstable fill because the tires tend to resurface as a result of air pockets and the density of the rubber. Air pollution problems are created if casings are burned, especially if the casings are not shredded to promote faster combustion.
There are tire shredding machines, but these have generally been uneconomic. The shredders suffer from low output, high water requirements, frequent jamming, rapid dulling of cutter blades and breakdowns.
Shredders have been built with a vertical passage leading to a pair of transversely disposed cutter wheels on adjacent parallel shafts rotating at different speeds. The cutter wheels have flat side walls that partially overlap, so that rotation results in a scissors action reducing the rubber tires into manageable and disposable or burnable shreds.
Water has frequently used as a lubricant with the shredders by freely spraying water into the cutting chamber. The casings are wetted by freely spraying water into the cutting chamber. Heretofore the amounts of water have required an immediate source and a means of disposing of somewhat polluted water. The area around the shredders easily become swamplike.